ARTF Supervisory Agent Mid-Term Report April 2013

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Afghan i s t an Recons t ruc t ion Trus t Fund

A R T F )

Supervisory Agent

Mid-Term Report

September 2011-

February 2013

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Table of Contents

Abbreviations and Acronyms ...1

Supervisor Agent Offices and Contacts ................1Executive Summary .............2

Supervisory Agent Approach and Tools ...3

Year I Results and Team ..4

Year II Mid-Term Results 4

EQUIP-MoEd TPM Highlights ..5

MoEd MTC Hightlights .5

Mid-Term Results and Inspection Map

IRDP-MoEW TPM Highlights ......6

IRDP Community Monitoring Highlights .7

NERAP-MoPW & MRRD TPM Highlights..8NSP-MRRD TPM Highlights9

Impact of the ARTF Monitoring Program

on GoA Implementation...10

Abbreviations and Acronyms

ARTF Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund

BoQ Bill of QuantityCM Community Monitoring

CDC Community Development Council

CMORE Common Monitoring + Reporting platform

CPI Cost Per Inspection

EMIS Education Management Information System

EQUIP Education Quality Improvement Program

GoA Government of Afghanistan

GIS Geographic Information System

IRD International Relief and Development

IRDP Irrigation Restoration and Develop. Project

ISD Infrastructure Servces Department

MTC Monitoring Training Center

MoEd Ministry of Education

MoEW Ministry of Energy and Water

MMS Media Message Services

MoPW Ministry of Public Works

MRRD Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Devel.

NERAP National Emergency Rural Access Program

NSP National Solidarity Program

O M Operation and Maintenance

QA/QC Quality Assurance / Quality Control

SA Supervisory Agent

TPM Third Party Monitoring

WB World Bank

Supervisory Agent Office

IRD ARTF Monitoring Program - Kabul OfficeNear British Embassy, Sherpur, Kabul, AfghanistanTelephone: +93 (0)706.719.955/+93 (0)790.690.739

Supervisory Agent Contacts

Dr. James K. WeeksDirector of Monitoring Services

[email protected]

David P. HinkleDeputy Director of Monitoring [email protected]

Daniel BichanichChief of [email protected]

Umesh TiwariDeputy Chief of Party

[email protected]


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Executive Summary

In order to strengthen the World Banks technicalsupervision of the ARTF infrastructure portfolio, in the

summer of 2011 the WB contracted International Relief andDevelopment as the Supervisory Agent to conduct ThirdParty Monitoring on four ARTF projects implemented byGovernment of Afghanistan ministries: EQUIP, IRDP,NERAP and NSP. The 3-year program was designed to meetthe following goals:

Monitor and report on the physical progress andquality of construction of ARTF subprojects.

Identify project and cross cutting trends, andrecommend actions to address them.

Track progress of GoA efforts to address identified

shortcomings and recommend ways to improveimplementation of ARTF projects.

In order to meet the required number of annual inspections(1,500 in Year I, 2,800 in Year II and 3,000 in Year III), theSA recruited and stationed qualified local national engineersacross Afghanistan to inspect ongoing and completed ARTFinfrastructure subprojects, such as buildings, roads, canals,

wells, etc. The determination of which sites to be inspected isbased on WB and GoA criteria including geographicdistribution, contractor, subproject types, etc.

Using pre-defined templates on smartphones, SA field

engineers capture project information such as constructionquality and adherence to the required design andspecifications as well as environmental, gender and socialdata. Preparation for each inspection includes liaison betweenthe SA team, GoA ministries in both Kabul and theprovinces, and local CDCs.

Monthly, the SA conducts and delivers inspection reports tothe WB, plus an executive summary with recommendationsaddressing individual and cross cutting issues. The SA alsodiscusses the findings with the GoA ministries to improveimplementation of ARTF projects. The SA documents the

GoA ministries efforts and reports these results back to theWB.

In Year I the program focused on 3 core activities:

Initiate and accurately execute TPM.

Identify and document problems and best practicesto improve ARTF implementation.

Share findings with the WB and GoA ministries

and observe and document GoA efforts toimplement ARTF improvements

Early in Year I the WB environmental and socialmanagement (ESM) team requested the SA to gatherenvironmental, gender and social information duringmonitoring. The WB and SA drafted ESM questions to

be asked of communities by SA engineers. As a result ofthis initiative, the program evolved into a morecomprehensive monitoring program.

By the end of Year I the SA delivered 1,763 inspectionreports from ARTF site visits in all 34 provinces to the

WB and GoA ministries. From the results a number ofcross cutting themes became evident over the course of

Year I, including:

Community involvement early on and proper

planning are crucial for support of the projectconstruction, the site selection, and the long-term maintenance.

Projects with high perceived benefits, such asportable water and micro hydro, increase thesense of community ownership and chances forlong-term success.

Larger projects attracted more qualifiedcontractors and were generally more successful.

The SA and GoA ministries worked closely to track andimprove project implementation. The results of thiscooperation include:

Monthly coordination and report reviewmeetings and joint site visits.

Deviation tracking systems that includerequired actions and the status of rectificationactivities.

Tracking and reporting of contractor andfacilitating partner performance ratings.

Detailed quarterly reviews of cross cutting

themes related to program implementation andsocial issues.

After Year I, building the capacity of GoA ministries and

impacted communities was deemed necessary to sustainthe monitoring initiative. In Year II the WB approvedtwo pilot initiatives focused on building capacity inservice of ARTF project monitoring sustainability:

Stand up a Monitoring Training Center at theMoEd to train and oversee their engineers in thefield and at the ministry.

Train communities to provide input and

support to monitoring of ARTF projects,beginning with the IRDP.

By the mid point of Year II the SA had delivered a totalof 1,421 inspection reports out of the required 2,800.


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Through the first half of Year II theSA delivered 1,421 inspectionreports, which is slightly more thanhalf of the number required in the

ToR.

At the mid-point of Year II, theresults show a positive trend in boththe quality of ministry constructionmonitoring and timeliness of theimplementation of follow-up andcorrective actions. Each programmeets monthly to reviewdeficiencies and the status ofcorrective actions. The agreed

action items are tracked to ensurecompletion, and follow-up siteinspections are scheduled to reviewrectification work.

For example, under IRDP theMoEW personnel track rectificationactivities and then requirephotographic evidence of eachcorrective action to be included inthe following monthly review.

Activities like these are key toensuring that feedback frommonitoring is utilized to improvethe program. Furthermore, theoverall project quality is generallyhigh with over 85% of the totalprojects monitored during the lastquarter being of average or abovequality.

In the second quarter of Year II anda direct result from the quarterlymeeting with the WB and GoAministries, the SA also initiated thedevelopment of road maps forintegrating CMORE within thedata systems of each ministry. Thestated goal of this integration is toensure all data captured, cataloguedand generated in CMORE iscompatible with existing databasesused within GoA ministriesinvolved with the ARTF program.

Year I Results and Team

In Year I, from September 2011 toAugust 2012, the SA delivered 1,763inspection reports from ARTF sitevisits in all 34 provinces to the WB andGoA ministries. The monitoringactivities focused on three specific

ARTF programs:

EQUIP II

NERAP

NSP III

To meet the required deliverables, theSA recruited and provided CMOREtraining to qualified and experienced

Afghan engineers and stationed them inmultiple locations across the country.The SA also recruited a qualified backoffice team in Kabul composed of GIS,IT, engineering, administrative,financial, logistics and securityspecialists to support the field engineersin all operational facets of the ARTFmonitoring program.

Year II Mid-Term Results

In Year II, the SA continued TPM ofthe original three ARTF programs from

Year I and also expanded TPMactivities to include IRDP sites. Basedon Year I results the SA also began twonew capacity development initiatives in

Year II: the MoED MonitoringTraining Center and IRDP

Community Monitoring (CM).

In Year II the SA is required to deliver2,800 inspection reports according tothe ARTF project breakdown below:

EQUIP: 800

MoEd: 400

IRDP: 250

IRDP CM: 200

NERAP: 350

NSP: 800

Table 1: Year I Results


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Suitability issues, which can include anincreased risk of flooding due to placementnear flood-prone areas as was the case at aschool in Kuran Wa Munjan, Badakshan

province.

The SA and MoEd collaborate regularly to ensureidentified deviations and issues are recognized andaddressed in a timely manner. These collaborativeefforts include:

Monthly meetings to review documenteddeviations and corrective actions.

A deviation tracking system that includesdetails regarding actions required and thedate of rectification.

Regular joint site visits at management andfield levels.

Follow-up site visits to ensure rectificationwork is completed properly.

These efforts have increased attention being paid toresolving deviations by the MoEd and haveincreased the effectiveness of the program toidentify and address issues. Furthermore, theyincrease awareness and serve as training tools toimprove program monitoring.

MoEd MTC Highlights

Throughout Year I whenever MoEd engineersaccompanied SA field engineers to EQUIP sites, it

was often noted that the MoEd engineers lacked thenecessary skills to comprehensively inspect aschools construction. As a direct result of thisimportant Year I finding the Monitoring TrainingCenter (MTC) at the MoEd was stood up in Year IIto increase the monitoring skills and capacity ofISD engineers.

Selected MoED engineers received one full monthof intensive classroom and practical training onconstruction monitoring, including use of theCMORE mobile and cloud-based suite of tools.

After completing the initial training in November2012, MoED engineers worked closely with IRDstaff to perform tandem inspections in the field as

well as tandem data processing within the MTCfacility stood up in the MoED building in order to

strengthen their skills.

EQUIP-MoEd TPM Highlights

Under the EQUIP monitoring program, SA engineersmonitor and inspect schools under construction as wellas recently completed. Through Year I and the first halfof Year II, the SA completed 1,516 EQUIP subprojectinspections of 868 schools across Afghanistan.

The EQUIP program has achieved strong results interms of construction quality with aggregate projectscores from the latest quarter averaging well above thebenchmark of 3 (satisfactory) with an increasing

number scoring 4 (good) or 5 (very good). In the lastquarter 83% were rated as grade 3 or above.

In close cooperation with the MoEd ISD and over thecourse of Year I the SA increased its monitoringattention towards the following critical aspects of theEQUIP schools:

Structural items, such as roofing systems andload-bearing walls.

Life-Safety items, including electrical work andfall hazards.


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Documents

ARTF Supervisory Agent Mid-Term Report April 2013